President Barack Obama is holding a video conference with European leaders to discuss their push for peace in Ukraine and other global security issues. The White House says other leaders planning to be on the Tuesday morning call include British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and European Commission President Donald Tusk.

Sen. John McCain is charging the Obama administration’s foreign policy is “delusional” and says Secretary of State John Kerry’s global diplomacy has “accomplished nothing except mileage.” In an appearance on MSNBC, the Arizona Republican also calls Russian President Vladimir Putin a “meglomaniac” and “pariah.”

Germany plans to activate a tank battalion that exists only on paper as it seeks to increase the country's military capability. The defense minister spoke of a "changed security situation" amid the conflict in Ukraine. In a magazine interview published on Friday, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said the tank battalion, based in Bergen in the state of Lower Saxony, would receive more equipment and personnel as part of efforts to redress what she called "an investment bottleneck." She also told the magazine, which is published by the German Bundeswehr, that already existing units would be equipped with...

After the president of the Central Council of Jews warned against anti-Semitism in Muslim areas of German cities, his Muslim opposite number agreed that “these fears are justified”. Aiman Mayzek, president of the Central Council of Muslims, told the Berliner Zeitung on Friday that he and his organization were taking a stand against anti-Semitism among Muslims. “Attacks on Jews are an attack on our society,” he said. …

Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews, said on Thursday that Jewish people should avoid making themselves too visible in “problem neighborhoods”. “Hiding isn't the answer,” Shuster told rbb radio. “The question is... whether it makes sense for Jews to make themselves recognizable by wearing a kippah (skull cap) in what I would call problem neighborhoods.” Schuster clarified that he meant “neighborhoods with a large proportion of Muslims in the population”, and pointed to Berlin as a city with an especially large number of such areas. “This is a development that I didn't expect five years ago and...

Russia is busily enlarging its spying network in Europe along the former Soviet KGB model because of the Ukraine crisis, Germany’s domestic intelligence chief warns. While Russian espionage has targeted European countries for many years, “distinct activities” of an old nature have been detected in information-gathering about Western responses to the conflict in Ukraine, media on Thursday quoted Hans-Georg Maaßen as saying. Some tactics of the now defunct Soviet KGB were being revived, such as targeted disinformation and supporting extremist groups with a view to destabilizing a given state, said Maaßen, who heads the Federal Office for the Protection of...

The European UnionÂ’s executive has unveiled a vast plan to boost coordination between the EUÂ’s 28 national energy markets to wean Europe off unstable Russian gas supplies and provide cheaper energy for consumers. European Commission Vice President MaroÂš ÂŠefÄŤoviÄŤ on Wednesday called it Â“undoubtedly the most ambitious energy projectÂ” since the inception of the EU over half a century ago. He believes that improving links across borders in EuropeÂ’s energy grid could save businesses and consumers up to Â€40 billion ($45.4 billion) a year. A more energy-independent Europe will also increase the EUÂ’s political options in eastern Europe. [Â…] Â“Our...

German consumers have taken over from exporters as the mainstay of growth in Europe's largest economy, boosted by low oil prices and interest rates, a strong job market and rising wages. Private consumption was the main engine of strong growth at the end of 2014, and it looks set to keep driving the economy, after Germany's largest labour union won a wage deal on Tuesday that will benefit 3.7 million workers.

SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany — As fighting continues in Ukraine despite new attempts at a cease-fire, U.S. Air Force leaders in Europe on Wednesday welcomed back a Cold War relic. Close-air support A-10 “Warthogs” — designed in the 1970s to knock out Soviet tanks — are back in Germany. Over the last week, about 300 personnel and 12 A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft arrived from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., for a six-month deployment intended to bolster security in a region shaken by the political crisis in eastern Europe. “Get ready for some travel,” Lt. Gen. Darryl Roberson, 3rd Air Force...

Ash Carter has quietly thrown down the gauntlet in a lingering dispute with Russia: If President Vladimir Putin continues to violate the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the U.S. could respond in kind. “The range of options we should look at from the Defense Department could include active defenses to counter intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missiles; counter-force capabilities to prevent intermediate-range ground-launched cruise missile attacks; and countervailing strike capabilities to enhance U.S. or allied forces,” Carter told senators in little-noticed written answers to follow-up questions from his confirmation hearing. The defense secretary’s bottom line: “U.S. responses must make clear to Russia that...

One in five Germans believe that a revolution would be the only way to truly reform society, a study released by the Free University of Berlin on Monday shows. Anti-capitalism, anti-fascism and anti-racism were all are prominent positions according to the study entitled “Against state and capital—for the revolution”, which has revealed a public much further to the left than previously thought. In the report, 20% of the people surveyed agreed with the statement that “Living conditions won’t be improved by reforms—we need a revolution”. A similar percentage of people said they saw the rise of a new fascism in...

The past offers us many lessons. And cause for alarm. And inspiration, too. Seventy-two years ago today, three young Germans — 21-year-old Sophie Scholl, her older brother by three years, Hans, and their friend 24-year-old Christoph Probst — were put to death by the Nazis. They were decapitated — guillotined — within hours of being found guilty in a sham trial conducted by “Raving Roland,” a typical Nazi lunatic. Their crime? Standing up against the most evil crime imaginable. The charge was treason — treason committed courageously against the Third Reich. The Scholls had a history of standing up to...

TONY Abbott says the nation’s $50 billion submarine project will create at least 500 new jobs in South Australia, as the government reveals a shortlist of foreign partners to design and build the new fleet. The Prime Minister has moved to end months of uncertainty over the project in a visit to Adelaide this morning, saying government-owned shipbuilder ASC would be guaranteed more work “under any possible scenario”. “There will be at least 500 new jobs in South Australia,” he said. Mr Abbott said the government would select a foreign contractor by the end of the year, but has narrowed...

Poverty levels in Germany have reached an all-time high, with 15.5 percent of the population—or 12.5 million people—affected. Single parents and unemployed people were the hardest hit, according to a report from a welfare association. Over 40 percent of single parents and almost 60 percent of the unemployed are poor, according to the Paritätische Gesamtverband, an umbrella organization for associations focusing on social services. Older people and retirees, around 15 percent of whom are considered poor, are the fastest growing demographic group in terms of poverty, according to the report released on Thursday. One of the report authors, Christian Woltering,...

To many on the outside, Germany looks like a big, rich country enjoying the benefits of being Europe's largest economy. Inside, Germans know that looks can be deceiving. As in any nation, parts of Germany suffer from poverty, and Germans have always assumed they knew which parts: the west is rich and the east is poor. But a new report reveals the truth isn't that simple. The wealth imbalance in Germany isn't just between east and west; there are also large regional differences between the country's north and south. And across the country there are pockets of poverty more crushing...

Germany has rejected a Greek request for a six-month extension to its eurozone loan programme. The rejection came despite the European Commission calling the Greek request "positive" only minutes earlier. Greece had sought a new six-month assistance package, rather than a renewal of the existing deal that comes with tough austerity conditions. However, a German finance ministry spokesman said it was "not a substantial proposal for a solution".

Vowing to “avenge Egyptian blood,” Egypt’s military forces on Monday unleashed abrupt-yet-foreseeable airstrikes on ISIS targets in Libya. The early-morning bombing came as a rapid response to ISIS’ release of a gruesome video showing the execution of 21 Coptic Christian hostages, who had reportedly been held hostage since January. Egypt is currently not part of the U.S.-led anti-ISIS coalition striking militant targets in Iraq and Syria since August 2014, but events in Libya and a militant insurgency in the Sinai may force President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to ramp up his plan of action. Is Egypt’s aerial campaign a quick, jabbing...

Fighting has flared up again in the Ukraine. The Egyptians are sending soldiers into Libya as another North African state collapses into chaos. The militants of Islamic State are spreading their influence across the region. You’d think Barack Obama might have bigger foreign policy issues to worry about than a small state of 10 million people on the eastern edges of the Mediterranean. But Greece may be about to turn from a European into an American problem. As the game of brinkmanship between the radical Syriza government elected last month and the European Union gets played out, it has become...

US State Department reported to say Israelis would ‘twist details’ to undermine negotiations European officials have confirmed that the US State Department cautioned them against providing Israel with sensitive information on the current round of negotiations with Iran over its alleged nuclear weapons program, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The account came amid vehement denials by the White House and State Department that they had stopped updating Jerusalem on the progress in the talks, even though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted Monday that Israel was indeed being kept in the dark. The report quoted an unnamed European official involved...

The White House is accusing Israel of "cherry-picking" information that distorts the U.S. position in nuclear talks with Iran. “There's no question that some of the things that the Israelis have said in characterizing our negotiating position have not been accurate. There's no question about that,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said during a press briefing on Wednesday. "We've also been very clear about the fact that the United States is not going to be in a position of negotiating this agreement in public, particularly when we see that there is a continued practice of cherry-picking specific pieces of...

In the aftermath of the killing of a man at a Copenhagen synagogue by a member of the Religion of Peace, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “This wave of attacks is expected to continue. Jews deserve security in every country, but we say to our Jewish brothers and sisters, Israel is your home.” Russian emigre Natan Sharansky echoed Netanyahu’s call, stating, “There is no future for Jews in western Europe.” In response, European leaders shouted down Netanyahu. “We know there are doubts, questions across the community,” said French President Francois Hollande, who was elected with in excess of 93...

BERLIN – Germany's armed forces will come under a new security and defense strategy from 2016, the German government has announced. Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced in Berlin on Tuesday that Germany, which has been traditionally hesitant in taking part in international military operations mainly because of its Nazi past, would act "without any taboos".

The decision of Germany’s largest gun club to disbar a title-winner over his Muslim religion—hastily withdrawn last August after an anti-discrimination uproar—came back to bite members after their bid for UNESCO cultural heritage status was suspended. Last July, 33-year-old Mithat Gedik was crowned Schützenkönig (marksman king) by his local club in Werl, North Rhine-Westphalia—only to have his title withheld because the organization’s ancient statute meant that non-Christians were ineligible to claim the crown. The Bund der Historischen Deutschen Schützenbruderschaften (BHDS—Federation of Historic German Marksmanship Brotherhoods) club then granted him the prize as an “exception” after the case was taken up...

Researchers at the University of Magdeburg argue that workers should be able to excuse themselves from work for short periods to reduce the burden on family doctors. “The goal can be that employees should be able to report themselves sick for up to a week,” lead researcher Wolfram Hermann told Welt am Sonntag. Hermann said that workers needing sick notes accounted for a large proportion of short-notice visits to doctors, taking up too much of their time. …

A German rapper-turned ISIS extremist who starred in the group's grisly beheading videos was being spied on for the FBI by a woman he thought was his wife. Denis Cuspert, 39, who now calls himself Abu Talha al-Amani, embraced radical Islam and travelled to Syria to fight with militants before becoming the group's main propagandist. The spy transmitted critical information about the rapper and his ISIS colleagues before escaping to Turkey - where she was arrested and then turned over to the US, according to the German newspaper Bild. The paper said German and American intelligence sources confirmed the existence...

Greece is on a collision course with the eurozone’s creditor powers after emergency talks ended in acrimony on Monday night, triggering the most serious political crisis since the launch of the euro. The Leftist Syriza government reacted with fury to eurozone demands that it must stick to the country’s discredited austerity plan, describing the draft text as “absurd and unacceptable”.

The Conservatives have opened up a four-point lead over Labour after the biggest surge in their support for two years, a poll has suggested. A Guardian/ ICM poll showed that the Tories are six points up to 36 per cent, only one point short of their result in the 2010 General Election. Labour support fell one point to 32 per cent, while the Liberal Democrats were also down a point to 10 per cent.

Greece's pleas to stop the "fiscal waterboarding" of its devastated economy are substantively no different from President Obama's repeated warnings to Germany to stop bleeding the euro area economy with excessive fiscal austerity. Sadly, the president's reportedly more than a dozen phone calls to the German Chancellor Merkel in 2011 and 2012 urging supportive economic policies in the euro area fell on deaf ears. These calls were not just brushed aside; they were plainly ridiculed as Chancellor Merkel kept telling the media that "it made no sense to be adding new debt to old debt." But -- worrying about one-fifth...

Forty years after the Swedish parliament unanimously decided to change the formerly homogenous Sweden into a multicultural country, violent crime has increased by 300% and rapes by 700%. Sweden is now number two on the list of rape countries, surpassed only by Lesotho in Southern Africa. Significantly, the report does not touch on the background of the rapists. One should, however, keep in mind that in statistics, second-generation immigrants are counted as Swedes. In an astounding number of cases, the Swedish courts have demonstrated sympathy for the rapists, and have acquitted suspects who have claimed that the girl wanted to...

When we say Novorossiya we are not referring to that territory Russia annexed over two centuries ago from the Ottoman Empire; nor do we mean the less than one year old confederation proclaimed in East Ukraine by the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic. What we have in mind is a new Russia: an emerging, much stronger nation, or federation, callused by the pain inflicted from the United States and its EU-NATO toy-dog through economic sanctions; a wiser Russia... a deflowered maiden which resulted from Gorbachev's well-meaning, but naďve, détente-glasnost days of promise by America's deceiving Novus-Imperium. And the...

A carnival parade has been called off at short notice in Braunschweig, northern Germany, due to the threat of an Islamist attack, police said. A "specific threat of an Islamist attack" was identified by state security sources, they said in a statement. Police urged people planning to attend to stay at home. The parade - a well-known regional attraction - was cancelled only 90 minutes before it was due to start. "Many people arriving at the train station were already dressed up and very disappointed - but we didn't want to take any risks," police spokesman Thomas Geese was quoted...

White House Warns Europe On Greek Showdown Washington blames Europe for the lack of global recovery and is losing its patience with EMU creditor states that fail to pull their weight By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard 13 Feb 2015 The Obama administration has leapt to the defence of Greece, warning Germany and Europe’s creditor powers that they must meet Athens half-way to avert a potentially dangerous rupture and a euro break-up. Caroline Atkinson, the US deputy-national security adviser, said the eurozone authorities had imposed the main burden of adjustment on the weaker deficit states and should do more to accept their share...

Germany announced Friday it had temporarily closed its embassy in Yemen and were pulling staff out because of ongoing violence in the troubled country. […] “The situation is anything but stable,” said a German foreign ministry spokeswoman, calling the ouster of the government by Shiite militiamen known as Huthis “unacceptable, dangerous and with consequences for the region”. …

European Command said this week that 12 A-10 Thunderbolts would be deployed to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, which was formed after Russia's intervention in Ukraine over the past year. ... The Air Force said besides operating in Germany, the A-10s will be forward deployed to other partner nations in Eastern Europe. U.S. forces have operated out of bases in Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Poland, among others, in the past year. The A-10, also known as the "Warthog," was designed in the 1970s to support ground troops in Europe against the tanks and armored vehicles...

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Essen will distribute the German Constitution in response to Salafists’ plans to give out free copies of the Koran in the city on Saturday. But Muslim residents say they’re creating a false opposition. “In a time when the threat from Islamist criminals is greater than ever, we have to combat the Salafists with all democratic means.”, president of the local CDU chapter Franz Joseph Britz told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. But some Muslim residents of Essen were dismayed by the way the CDU had chosen to counter the Salafists. …

The Labour Party under Ed Miliband has long trumpeted its support for the cause of Palestine, but it denies any connections with Hamas. However, documents seen by Breitbart London show just how close the two have become in recent years, despite the public denials. The connection is through a group called the Palestinian Return Centre (PRC) which has donated money to a Labour MP, and even sponsored a dinner with Ed Miliband . The PRC has been accused by the Israeli government of being the European branch of Hamas. Despite concerns about its links to the terror group it was...

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said that if Greece failed to get a new debt agreement with the euro zone, it could always look elsewhere for help. "What we want is a deal. But if there is no deal - hopefully (there will be) - and if we see that Germany remains rigid and wants to blow apart Europe, then we have the obligation to go to Plan B. Plan B is to get funding from another source," he told Greek television show that ran in to early Tuesday. "It could the United States at best, it could be Russia,...

Leading Jewish groups have slammed the German government for creating a new commission on anti-Semitism without including a single Jew. Julius Schoeps from the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies on Tuesday called it “a unique scandal” that the Interior Ministry did not include any Jewish scientists or community leaders on the commission it created to fight anti-Semitism and support Jewish life in Germany. …

The Anti-Zionist Guide to Burning SynagoguesPosted By Daniel Greenfield On February 10, 2015 @ 12:55 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | 5 Comments WuppertalÂ’s synagogues had been destroyed on Kristallnacht. By the time the war was over, the 3,000 Jews living in this German city had been reduced to a community of 60. 75 years after Kristallnacht, the Bergische Synagogue began to burn after three Muslim men had thrown six Molotov cocktails at it.The Jews of Wuppertal however have nothing to worry about. Judge JĂ¶rg Sturm found that the attack was not anti-Semitic, but had only been a way of...

The United States added German former rapper Denis Cuspert to its list of "terrorists" over his role as a fighter with the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, the State Department said Monday. The 39-year-old, who used to rap in Berlin under the name "Deso Dogg" and now goes by the name Abu Talha al-Almani, is one of the most famous Western fighters for ISIS. He is already listed as an Al-Qaeda supporter by the United Nations. The US listing as a "global terrorist" freezes all of Cuspert's assets under US control and prohibits transactions with him. Cuspert joined...

President Barack Obama had a message for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday: German Chancellor Angela Merkel would not have accepted an invitation to speak before Congress without first notifying him. “As much as I love Angela, if she was two weeks away from an election, she probably would not have received an invitation to the White House, and I suspect she wouldn’t have asked for one,” Obama said at a Monday press conference after meeting the German leader in Washington. Obama’s comments are said to reflect his anger over the fact that Netanyahu accepted an invitation from House Speaker...

Sen. Ted Cruz slammed the Obama administration's approach to the Ukraine crisis, saying the White House should take a more aggressive role to shore up the nation's defenses against Russia. The Texas Republican said the strategy employed by the United States and Germany "makes no sense, and it isn't working. It is long past time for us to step forward and provide defensive weapons." The comments from Cruz, who was speaking on CNN's "State of the Union" from the Munich Security Conference in Germany, come as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have been negotiating with Russian...

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Sunday the country had a "moral obligation" to claim reparations from Germany for the damages wrought by the Nazis during World War II. Greece had "a moral obligation to our people, to history, to all European peoples who fought and gave their blood against Nazism," he said in a key address to parliament.

So here’s Obama’s opinion: Ukraine should not get military aid from the West because even with American help, Russia would still mop the floor with them. And this, according to the Times, is what Obama thinks will intimidate Putin into signing a peace treaty. I’ll offer the president some free advice: telling Putin the world is too weak to stop him isn’t very intimidating. Yet even if the West got Putin to sign on to a new agreement, nothing will have been accomplished. Putin has been violating the last ceasefire agreement, because there’s no one to enforce it. What Obama,...

‘I believe the Russians are mobilizing right now for a war that they think is going to happen in five or six years... with somebody within the next five or six years.” So says Lt. Gen. Frederick “Ben” Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe... "American engagement is essential if the West is to deter a revanchist Russia that has set out to “redraw the boundaries of Europe,” Gen. Hodges says... Russian President Vladimir Putin “has done in Ukraine,” he says, “is a manifestation of a strategic view of the world... This level of assistance suggests Ukraine “is not a foray,...

Following yesterday's summary of the utter farce that the Minsk Summit/Ukraine "peace" deal talks have become, the various parties involved appear to be fracturing even faster today. The headlines are coming thick and fast but most prescient appears to be: Despite John Kerry's denial of any split between Germany and US over arms deliveries to Ukraine, German Foreign Minister Steinmeier slammed Washington's strategy for being "not just risky but counterproductive." But perhaps most significantly is France's continued apparent pivot towards Russia. Following Francois Hollande's call for greater autonomy for Eastern Ukraine, former French Pres Nicolas Sarkozy has come out in...

Cyprus will offer Russia military facilities on its soil, President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday. In an interview with a local newspaper, Anastasiades said that a pact strengthening defense relations between the two countries will be signed when he visits Moscow on Feb. 25. "There is an old (defense) agreement which is to be renewed as it is. At the same time, some additional facilities will be provided just like we do with other countries - France and Germany for example," Anastasiades said. Cyprus is currently providing facilities to French planes, such as refueling and maintenance at an air force...